Author Archives: Matthew Chaney

November 19, 2018Comments Off on Human trafficking victim trying to recover $8M award

A Virginia attorney representing a victim of human trafficking earned her client an $8 million judgment in Kansas earlier this year, which is believed to be the largest single-plaintiff human trafficking award in United States history. Collecting the award, however, ...

An African-American defendant who was convicted of drug and firearm charges may not interview the convicting jurors for signs of racial animus, despite a juror’s statement that his peer expressed racial prejudice during deliberations, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of ...

November 9, 2018Comments Off on Sex, not orientation, was basis of Title VII claim

A workplace discrimination lawsuit made by an openly gay female former deputy chief of the Bedford Police can go forward, a Lynchburg federal judge has ruled, finding that the claim was based on her sex, making a member of a ...

Just a few short months after walking 2,190 miles on a footpath from Georgia to Maine, Bruce Matson is back in the office in a high-rise in Richmond, handling bankruptcy cases for LeClairRyan, where he’s a partner. But that’s not ...

October 24, 2018Comments Off on Company gets nod to enforce nonsolicitation agreement

A federal judge in Harrisonburg has ruled that a Virginia-based drone company could seek to enforce a nonsolicitation agreement and entered an injunction against an ex-employee. But the enforcement effort was stayed after the man filed for bankruptcy in Maryland ...

October 22, 2018Comments Off on Gray marriage: Later-in-life unions can lead to legal issues

As baby boomers age, it’s no surprise that America’s population of people over the age of 65 is getting bigger than it has ever been. One less than obvious consequence of this is that more people living past middle age ...

October 9, 2018Comments Off on Job market for law grads shows improvement

The job market for Virginia law school graduates improved modestly from 2016 to 2017, based on an analysis of data published by the American Bar Association and the National Association for Law Placement. While statistics for the class of 2018 ...

September 27, 2018Comments Off on Increased efficiency leads to more ADR in workers’ comp. system

Each year, more and more cases in Virginia are resolved through alternative dispute resolution. But, according to an annual report published Sept. 13 by the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission, this number is going up particularly quickly in workers’ compensation cases. ...

September 24, 2018Comments Off on Requiring proof of residency may be Fair Housing violation

A mobile home park may have violated the Fair Housing Act by requiring residents to provide proof of their legal residency in the United States, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Four Latino families allege that the ...

September 17, 2018Comments Off on Lessons from Florence: Disaster planning for law firms

As this issue of Virginia Lawyers Weekly was being put to bed, Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 storm, was headed for landfall in the Carolinas, with heavy rain and wind expected for Virginia. Large population centers in the commonwealth appeared ...